


Let's Gel

by crazygirlne



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Brief Unwanted Advances, But really it's mostly just Leonard being like OMG SARA IS AWESOME, College AU, F/M, Mostly Fluff, References to neglectful or abusive parent, road trip au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-16 23:54:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9295229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazygirlne/pseuds/crazygirlne
Summary: When Leonard agrees to drive for two days with his sister, he doesn't realize her roommate will be coming with them.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [newyorkcity_dreaming](https://archiveofourown.org/users/newyorkcity_dreaming/gifts).



> Title from Collective Soul "Gel" lyrics.

“Please, Lenny, it would mean a lot.”

Leonard sighs. He’s never really been able to turn his sister down when she uses that particular pleading tone. “Fine,” he growls, “but you’re paying for gas.”

“Thanks, Lenny!” Lisa’s suddenly all sunshine and positivity, and Leonard allows himself a little grin; she can’t see him anyway.

After she hangs up, he packs a small bag that he’ll be able to take on a train without any hassle, then toss in Lisa’s trunk for the ride back. He doesn’t understand _why_ Lisa suddenly needs his company on the drive from her college back to Central City, but he’s been protecting her for years. If she really needs him, he’s going to drop everything to help.

It makes it easier that he owns his own business and that his partner, Mick, is entirely capable of running it for the time he’ll be gone.

***

Lisa throws her arms around her older brother as soon as he steps out of the train station. Leonard sees her little, golden car (he cosigned for it, but to give her credit, she paid for it entirely herself) parked at the curb.

“Nice to see you, too,” he drawls, and she lets him go with a smirk. “I still don’t know why you wanted…” He trails off as a woman climbs out of Lisa’s passenger seat.

His first reaction is attraction, the kind that punches him in the gut in a way he’s only ever felt a couple times in his life. He inhales, letting his eyes slide from her bright hair, along her athletic frame, and down to the tall, white boots she’s sporting proudly. He doesn’t linger, snapping his eyes back to her face.

His second reaction is dismay. The woman is Lisa’s roommate, a college junior, and definitely firmly off-limits.

His third reaction is disbelief. He turns to Lisa. “You wanted me on the trip because your roommate is coming with us.” It ends up a statement rather than a question, and Lisa puts on her best pout.

“I couldn’t say no. You know what Sara’s like.”

Leonard’s heard a lot about Sara Lance in the two years Lisa’s been rooming with her. Lisa complains about Sara’s hours, her morals, her obsession with daggers. Sara, according to Lisa, hates everything about her. And yet, any time Leonard has wearily asked why Lisa doesn’t just get another roommate, he’s gotten nothing but excuses.

It’s a bad time of year. It would be too much work to move. She finally got the air conditioner to stay where she wants it.

Lisa’s already told him she’s rooming with Sara again next semester, so Leonard figures they like each other, just won’t admit it. He knows they help each other home late at night, watch each other’s backs at parties, and stay away from each other’s crushes.

He’s never actually met Sara, but it looks like he’s about to.

“Why do you think my presence will make a difference?” Leonard hisses as the woman approaches.

“Because,” Lisa breathes, “she’s old like you are. I mean, she’s my age, but she doesn’t always act like it. I figured you could talk to each other while we drive.” She takes Leonard’s arm and grins at her roommate. “Sara! This is my brother, Lenny.”

“Leonard,” he corrects automatically, used to Lisa’s introductions, “or Len, if you have to shorten it.”

Sara’s returning smile about knocks him off his feet, and he swallows. “I’ve heard all about you,” she says.

“Well, I’ve heard all about you, so I guess we’re even.”

He doesn’t realize he and Sara are staring at each other until Lisa huffs. “Come on, let’s get going. I wanna make it to the hotel with enough time to check out the pool.”

***

The drive back to Central City will take two days. Leonard isn’t sure what he expects now that Sara’s along. If he had to guess based on what he’d heard of her, he’d have said he wouldn’t like her.

That couldn’t be much further from the truth.

It’s probably a good thing that he enjoys her company from the start; Lisa retreats immediately to the backseat, telling Sara to take shotgun, and falls asleep before they’re even on the highway.

“Has she always been able to do that?” Sara asks. “Fall asleep in like two seconds?”

“It comes and goes.” Leonard envies the skill, honestly, but he thinks she probably developed it out of self-preservation. Their dad was less likely to get angry at them if they were asleep, and the hours he kept meant that she had to fall asleep easily and sleep through anything if she wanted to be awake for school the next day.

“She complains that I go to bed too early,” Sara says, and Leonard glances over to see a smile playing at her lips. He quickly turns his attention back to the road. “Somehow, though, she still usually falls asleep before I do.”

Leonard chuckles. “I’ve been there a time or two.”

Sara sits up straight like she’s remembered something, then turns to rummage in a bag in the backseat, not bothering to be quiet. Lisa, unsurprisingly, sleeps through it.

“I hope you like road trip music,” Sara says, straightening with her phone and an audio cable in hand, “because I made the best playlist.” Leonard’s hands tighten on the steering wheel as he prepares for sickeningly upbeat chick music.

He breathes out a surprised laugh as Duncan Sheik’s “Barely Breathing” blasts from the speakers. He really should’ve known better than to expect something stereotypical, even as little time as he’s been acquainted with Sara. She grins at him again, a satisfied smirk, the cat who got the canary, and starts singing along at a volume that’s just shy of too loud.

Leonard doesn’t join in, but he taps the steering wheel in time with the beat. When the next song starts, another 90s pop rock ballad, and she’s watching him with eyes that glitter a little too dangerously and a little too much knowledge in her smile, he has to say something.

“Were you even _alive_ when these songs came out?” he tries, attempting to remind them both of their age difference. Sara, of course, just rolls her eyes and continues singing along.

“If you could only see how blue her eyes can be when she says, when she says she loves me.”

***

She’s old enough to drink, at least, but knowing that doesn’t help Leonard remind himself he’s too old for her, even if she were, some crazy how, to be interested. He shouldn’t be so interested, not in someone he’s only just met, not in his sister’s _roommate_.

“Why didn’t you just tell me you didn’t want to ride alone with Sara?” Leonard asks Lisa as Sara heads to the bar to retrieve a few more drinks. “I still would’ve come.”

Lisa adopts an expression that’s much too innocent. “Because you told me I wasn’t allowed to complain to you about her anymore unless I was planning to stop being her roommate.” Sara returns with beers in hand before he can ask further questions, placing one in front of each of them before sliding back into the booth next to Leonard.

He tells himself it’s entirely accidental that she stops only after her leg is actually touching his. He makes it through that next drink, ignoring that she’s pressing further into him in favor of concentrating on the conversation about favorite and least favorite professors. Leonard skipped college, taking over his dad’s business (well, the legal parts of it, anyway) instead so that he could support himself and Lisa, since their dad wasn’t exactly contributing from prison. Still, he finds the conversation interesting. He always enjoys hearing about Lisa’s likes and dislikes, and he finds it hard not to care about Sara’s passions.

She lights up with so much energy when she gives a damn, whether it’s positive or negative, that it’s impossible not to get caught up along with her. It’s only by virtue of the barest whisper of self-preservation that he turns her down when she looks at him and asks, “Want to dance, Leonard?” At his careful refusal, she merely turns and shrugs at Lisa. “His loss. What about you?”

He watches the women move to the otherwise-empty dance floor, taking another swig of a beer that seems to have appeared out of nowhere. They’re relaxed, enjoying each other in a way he really isn’t familiar with.

He’s even less relaxed when a couple guys join them, taking hips in hands without asking. Leonard waits a beat; if he interferes and Lisa wants to dance with them, Lisa will kill him, and he suspects Sara is the same. His hand tightens on the beer bottle as he forces himself to stay still.

Sara turns. She gives the man in front of her a smile that Leonard already recognizes as more dangerous than genuine. He can’t hear what she says, but her body language is clear enough: Thanks, but no thanks.

The man doesn’t take the hint. Leonard stands, but he doesn’t have time to get to the dance floor before Sara acts. She starts with a firm, one-handed shove, and when the man steps immediately back into her space, she grabs his hand, twirls neatly around to his back, bending his wrist and forcing it upward and his arm downward until he falls to his knees.

Leonard abruptly remembers the times Lisa’s complained about Sara forcing her to learn self-defense, about Sara practicing martial arts in their little common room. His eyes flick to his sister. The guy who approached her seems to be less of an asshole than the one who approached Sara, clearly having backed off several seconds before things got physical. The man approaches Sara, hands raised defensively, while Lisa smirks at the scene in front of her. Len gets in earshot just in time to hear his apology.

“Hey, dude, you can’t do that shit. I’m sorry, both of you. I’ll get him home so he can sleep it off.”

“You’d better,” Leonard growls, crossing his arms and coming to a stop.

Neither man looks more frightened at his presence. The one standing nods and reaches for his friend, and Sara tightens her grip for only a moment before letting him up. The two men mutter at each other as the leave the bar without a backward glance.

“I had it,” Sara says, flushed with adrenaline but not breathing heavily from the exertion.

“I saw that,” Leonard answers. He doesn’t quite recognize the gruff tone of his own voice, and he finds himself unable to look away from her blue eyes, not even when Lisa makes a snarky comment about their getting a room.

***

He doesn’t sleep well that night, alone in his hotel room while the girls sleep next door. His thoughts are plagued by Sara Lance, and he’s cranky by the time they get to the car the next morning. Lisa takes one look at him and tells him to sit in the back. She snags her keys out of his hand and slides into the driver’s seat.

Leonard settles in, planning to nap as Lisa had the day before, and he’s startled when Sara opens the door and starts rearranging bags so she can sit next to him.

“Do you mind?” she asks, and he shakes his head no before he can decide on a response. “Cool,” she says, getting in and shutting the door. Lisa pulls out of the parking lot before he can change his mind about seating arrangements, and she cranks some of her favorite music. It’s not terrible, but it really isn’t his thing, either.

It also makes it difficult to hear what Sara’s trying to say. She leans closer, breath warm against the shell of his ear.

“You can sleep, if you want. I don’t mind.”

He nods, still silent. He watches her as she turns to look at the road, head sometimes bobbing absently with the music. This should be awkward, he thinks, sitting next to her in forced… Well, not silence, exactly, not with the music blaring, but certainly lack of communication.

They’ve talked a lot over the past 24 hours, though. Through the car ride in between songs, during lunch, at the bar; they’d covered everything from family to politics, and it feels like they’ve known each other much longer than they actually have. He should still mind, though, that she took the middle seat when the front seat was available, that she’s once against pressed her leg against his, that she’s in his space when almost nobody is allowed there.

He doesn’t mind. He closes his eyes, not sure whether he’ll actually be able to sleep, but needing to stop feeling like a creep who’s watching the much-too-intriguing person next to him.

When he wakes a couple hours later and finds Sara asleep on his shoulder, tucked into his side as much as they could manage with the seatbelts, his arm wrapped around her, he doesn’t mind that, either. He resolutely ignores his sister’s knowing grin in the rearview mirror.

***

Sara wakes when they stop for lunch, and the rest of the day passes quickly. Lisa lowers the volume on the music, and the three of them find a surprising number of things to talk about. Leonard is shocked at how much Lisa has shared about their family.

It’s not that he minds; it’s just that Lisa can be even more tight-lipped than he is, despite the girlish appearance she likes to wear as a disguise. That she’s told Sara about their past lets him know more than anything else exactly how close the women actually are.

He learns that Sara’s father is a cop. Sara doesn’t seem to mind that their fathers are on the opposite end of things, squeezing his hand for a second when he goes quiet, then letting go and changing the subject.

At their final rest stop, Lisa confronts him while Sara uses the restroom.

“I don’t mind, you know,” she says, her tone almost a command.

Leonard blinks. “Don’t mind what?”

“You and Sara,” Lisa answers. “I kinda always thought you’d hit it off.”

***

“Aren’t we taking Sara home?” Leonard asks as they pull into their driveway a few hours later.

“I thought I told you,” Lisa says, “she’s staying with us tonight. Her dad’s gonna come pick her up tomorrow.”

Another night with Sara’s company, after hours of wondering whether the woman feels the same pull as he does, hours in which he’s known that if they pursue a relationship, it won’t wreck what he has with his sister or what the roommates have with each other. He’s pretty sure he’s going to do something stupid. He should really crash with Mick tonight.

He gets out of the car instead, grabbing as much of their stuff as he can carry and bringing it into the house. The women get the rest, Lisa laughing when she sees Leonard realize they’re each carrying more than he is.

Dinner goes by in a blur, and he finds himself alone on the couch with Sara, some cheesy sci-fi show he won’t admit he likes playing in the background. Lisa’s gone to bed uncharacteristically early. Sara’s leaning against him again, and again, he finds he doesn’t mind.

“So I come home for every break,” she’s saying, “because my sister can’t. I mean, I get it, she’s busy, right? But even if my dad isn’t perfect, you should see how much he lights up when he sees us, so it’s hard not to get mad sometimes, when she’s not here.” She blinks, realizing what she’s said, and turns to look up at him. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”

_I’m too distracted by the fact that I’d barely have to move an inch to kiss you to figure out what you’re apologizing for_ , he doesn’t say. He processes her words over again instead, trying hard to concentrate.

“It’s not your fault Lisa and I have a shitty father,” he says finally. “And you shouldn’t have to feel regret for having something good in your life.”

Her eyes move to his lips, and for a moment he’s pretty sure that neither of them breathe. The moment stretches into a minute, maybe more, then Sara stands abruptly.

“I should probably get to bed,” she says, and there’s the breathlessness that was missing from her almost-bar fight the night before. Leonard nods, standing and following her to Lisa’s door.

“Goodnight, Leonard,” she says, hesitating only a second before reaching up to place a kiss on his cheek, just barely missing his lips. Her hand slides from his shoulder down his chest, dropping to her side before it can venture into dangerous territory.

“Goodnight, Sara,” he returns, voice rough. He watches her walk into his sister’s room, shutting the door behind her. He starts toward his own room, pausing and turning back when he hears the door open again.

“Hey, Len?” Sara calls softly. He tilts his head to the side, and she continues. “Do you wanna grab dinner some time?”

He has to swallow twice before he can answer, and he kicks himself to realize he feels like he’s younger than she is in this moment. Lisa was right; Sara’s old for her age. “I’d like that.”

“Good,” Sara says, smiling before she shuts the door again.

Leonard waits a moment, then takes refuge in his room. That night, the thought of Sara, the memory of her lips against his skin, helps soothe him to sleep instead of keeping him awake.

***

At their wedding three years later, Sara and Leonard look out at their gathered friends and family and thank Lisa for playing matchmaker.


End file.
